Misleading slogan

Sir, - I am a bit surprised to read the full page write-up, headlined by the slogan `live life the healthy way; piyo more chai everyday', purportedly `issued in public interest' by the Tea Board of the Government of India, appealing to the public to drink more tea to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer (Sept. 25). It extensively quotes some scientific literature about the value of tea in protecting people from these diseases, but conveniently ignores the scientific literature on the possible and proved adverse effects of consumption of tea.

This is an example of how business promoters cleverly use scientific observations selectively and out of context to mislead the public and augment the sale of their products.

One may in the same way quote from the Journal of American Medical Association (June 1999) and `Nurses' Health Study' and `Physicians' Health Study' and appeal to the public to drink more coffee to lower the risk of developing gallstones, and to drink alcoholic beverages daily to protect against heart attacks and increase of cholesterol, as there is some scientific evidence to indicate these benefits. Of course, the promoters of the beverages would not mention the adverse effects such as habituation, addiction, over-drinking, depletion of some vitamins, stimulation of production of stress hormones such as cortisol, increase of coronary artery disease, loss of appetite, causation of peptic ulcer, increase in neurotic problems, lipid problems and impairment of bowel regulation.

Dissemination of imbalanced information does more harm than good. And if a little tea is good, more of it need necessarily not be better. So, dear reader, take the slogan `Live life the healthy way; Piyo more chai everyday' and the tea of the Tea Board with a pinch of salt!

Dr. T. Rama Prasad,

Perundurai, T.N.

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